Rides and Races - Toronto Fixed

Me too :)

where?

Re: implied blame.... I work @ der Star, let me see what I can do internally.

You're the man! I was just writing a little something about it for the old blogerino and I was thinking "I wonder if Andy will have had that changed by the time I hit publish." :)

14th floor, with the LCBO

I've heard that wheels on fixed gear bikes have to be especially stiff/rigid to handle the added torque and such of fixed riding. Is this BS, or is there a certain type of wheel and/or rim/spoke combination I should know about when I choose the wheels for my build?

These look pretty good, for the price. Any thoughts?
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/691886347.html

14th floor, with the LCBO

haha coolio I'm on 4, the floor with the poisonous cafeteria and bad coffee.

Oh I frequent that floor for the rye toast...

I've heard that wheels on fixed gear bikes have to be especially stiff/rigid to handle the added torque and such of fixed riding. Is this BS, or is there a certain type of wheel and/or rim/spoke combination I should know about when I choose the wheels for my build?

These look pretty good, for the price. Any thoughts?
http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/691886347.html

I don't know about that re: extra torque, etc. But I know it's not recommended to have radial lacing on the back for that reason, other than that I don't know.

That wheelset caught my eye, too - sounds fairly decent, it's something I would consider for myself if I had the bucks to burn right now.

test email.. feedback?

"I must admit to being pretty put off by your headline regarding the latest cyclist death on our streets. It seems pretty badly worded in that it seemed the cyclist just so happened to run into an open car door and killed himself by falling under the wheels of another truck. Once I logged in and got settled it would appear that many of my brethren on bikes were equally put off, saying your words read as if you were implying blame on the cyclist. This may have been unintentional, but the damage is done in the public eye, as cyclist tend to read stories about dead cyclists more than most folks. FYI...Cyclists DO NOT accidently collide with opening car doors. Drivers break the existing laws on the books and open doors into the path of oncoming cyclists without looking, plain and simple. In our congested environment it's not always possible to avoid riding in the door zone, but it is possible AND REQUIRED, by law, to make sure that when one opens their door on the side of the street one doesn't inadvertently throw a metal wall in front of a moving cyclist causing them to crash or in this case push them under the wheels of another vehicle.

It's a pretty simple law.... strange how drivers rarely open car doors in front of other cars and have their doors torn off though. I, and a fair number of cyclists who read your piece would really appreciate some form of editing to make this a bit more accurate or at least seeming a bit less biased *edit* against the deceased/edit. please and thank-you."

I was following a couple of people this morning on College, and they pulled up ahead of me at a light, then blew through College/Augusta (Eastbound, crossing the intersecting road) - granted I blow this light sometimes too, but when there are peds/cars-a-plenty it's a bit more of a push - I definitely saw this from a "stupid cyclists!" perspective though, which makes me a massive hypocrit as I frequently roll stops/reds especially in low traffic situations - aieeee the conflict! ;)

Pedestrians have to be my worst foe still, one of my recent pet peeves is them crowding the road before the streetcar even arrives at the stop. I had a yelling match with a driver over this one day, as I went through and he figured I'd ran the door/stops. I told him "that streetcar was still moving when I passed it, those doors aren't a stop sign until they open up, dude". Bah. TGIF.

+1 on all that. :)

I hit a woman in Yorkville a couple years ago. She walked out between parked cars without looking. I totally shoulder-checked her. I guess she saw stopped traffic and just ASSUMED she could strut across.. best part? Her yelling at me: "Watch where you're going!!!"

test email.. feedback?

"I must admit to being pretty put off by your headline regarding the latest cyclist death on our streets. It seems pretty badly worded in that it seemed the cyclist just so happened to run into an open car door and killed himself by falling under the wheels of another truck. Once I logged in and got settled it would appear that many of my brethren on bikes were equally put off, saying your words read as if you were implying blame on the cyclist. This may have been unintentional, but the damage is done in the public eye, as cyclist tend to read stories about dead cyclists more than most folks. FYI...Cyclists DO NOT accidently collide with opening car doors. Drivers break the existing laws on the books and open doors into the path of oncoming cyclists without looking, plain and simple. In our congested environment it's not always possible to avoid riding in the door zone, but it is possible AND REQUIRED, by law, to make sure that when one opens their door on the side of the street one doesn't inadvertently throw a metal wall in front of a moving cyclist causing them to crash or in this case push them under the wheels of another vehicle.

It's a pretty simple law.... strange how drivers rarely open car doors in front of other cars and have their doors torn off though. I, and a fair number of cyclists who read your piece would really appreciate some form of editing to make this a bit more accurate or at least seeming a bit less biased *edit* against the deceased/edit. please and thank-you."

:thumb:

I like the way if you creep along the streetcar driver will not ding/freak if you eek your way through the loading and unloading of TTC users. I do get the occasionally lemming..'look there's the streetcar' step off's. In all my years commuting here I've never been dinged by a TTC driver. I guess being part of the solution actually helps sometimes. These guys know how traffic works...I've even had occasion when racing the streetcar, he's totally beat me to the corner but will actually wait for me to pass before opening the doors. I think it's also to let the cyclist get a couple blocks away so we're not in front of them anymore.

While I too blow stops/reds etc, I do so safely without freaking anyone out.... I feel you there flimflam, some really stooopid red runs out there. Just waitin' for the skreech bang one day.

nvm i should have read this page before posting lol

I like the way if you creep along the streetcar driver will not ding/freak if you eek your way through the loading and unloading of TTC users. I do get the occasionally lemming..'look there's the streetcar' step off's. In all my years commuting here I've never been dinged by a TTC driver. I guess being part of the solution actually helps sometimes. These guys know how traffic works...I've even had occasion when racing the streetcar, he's totally beat me to the corner but will actually wait for me to pass before opening the doors. I think it's also to let the cyclist get a couple blocks away so we're not in front of them anymore.

While I too blow stops/reds etc, I do so safely without freaking anyone out.... I feel you there flimflam, some really stooopid red runs out there. Just waitin' for the skreech bang one day.

Yeah I appreciate the TTC drivers, like you said they know how it works - just like messengers/cabbies - for the most part it's all good. I had one streetcar pull up behind me at Carlton/Parliament this morning, he was wanting to do the right turn there so I just skootched over for him after a quick "you going right?" check - it's all about minimizing troubles for me and everyone around. Another one this morning was I let a big rig come onto the road (from the 401 offramp) by me staying in the centre lane of Brock in Whitby here, he waved very appreciatively - no point in delaying others if I can help it, I figure.

I had to play "pacifist" between a cabbie and my buddy on Wednesday night, and I made damn sure this cabbie knew that all cyclists weren't like my (admittedly drunk) buddy, and I apologized - apparently the cabbie mouthed off at him as he clipped the passenger mirror, so drunken mouth-off started.

Thanks for the effort there TJ!

Drunk in traffic.. a recipe for disaster... it's almost gotten me killed a few times when I was a Beer Fish. Least I remember how I got home these days, there's been many a morning I woke up not know HTF I got home in one piece. This wasn't meant to sound preachy I swear, I've also had some amazing rips in traffic while drunk :innocent:.

I love the language The Star (http://www.thestar.com/article/429141) used in reporting the story - Cyclist dies after hitting opening car door.

Implied blame? Sounds like it to me...

i'm sure the Star reporter would be surprised how easy it is to hit an open car door in traffic when it's flung open in your face...

email sent to the reporter and letters to the editor

i have to say that the pedestrians walking in traffic for the street car that's a block away really irks me too. these days i ride as close to the streetcar as possible as i know it's not going to swerve and that way i'm as far away from street-lurkers as possible. actually i had a close calla while ago in the same situation while driving a car. i'm honking at people on the street and there just standing there shaking their fists at me. mob rule i guess?
i had a similar pedestrian collision as wes - i hit a guy a few years ago while he was j-walking across the danforth in rushour moving traffic. came out of nowhere and his friend starts yelling at me. i wonder if he got hit by a car he would yell at a driver. should we start carrying jousting sticks?

Wes/Dom, Twin Six order should be going in next week - I'll be in touch w/ what your orders come to.

Wes/Dom, Twin Six order should be going in next week - I'll be in touch w/ what your orders come to.

Cog?

Still no stock. I'm going to order some Surly ones instead but I'll also try to find out when the supplier expects more of the Shimano ones in case they're not far off.

Who makes a SS shimano cassette compatible cog in a 20 something? Looking to achieve 2:1 on the TBL so it can get dirty.
As well.... rock solid tensioning so the chain doesn't drop. I run a couple cogs in the back, so eno hubs aren't the solution.
Is that 75$ tensioner the bomb, or can I alter the spring in my crappy 20$ tensioner?

As terrible as a ped strike is..... I'll wager they've started looking before stepping out now. Most only ever get hit once, you'd hope.

As terrible as a ped strike is..... I'll wager they've started looking before stepping out now. Most only ever get hit once, you'd hope.

I had a guy run into me last week in the EXACT same spot that a car ran into last October. He got shoulder checked, I stayed on the bike and he at least yelled "Sorry Buddy!" after the fact... Could have been bad but the little dance he did before we collided made the experience pretty hilarious.

second email sent to Star PPL

Perhaps:

Cyclist dies after being knocked into traffic by parked car opening door.

Cheers.

I've heard that wheels on fixed gear bikes have to be especially stiff/rigid to handle the added torque and such of fixed riding. Is this BS, or is there a certain type of wheel and/or rim/spoke combination I should know about when I choose the wheels for my build?

Torque on the hub depends on the gear ratio (torque is actually higher with lower ratios), not really on the drivetrain. Like on any bike, the quality of the wheel built (spoke tension) is what's important. A 3x 36h wheel is pretty much indestructible.

Who makes a SS shimano cassette compatible cog in a 20 something? Looking to achieve 2:1 on the TBL so it can get dirty.
As well.... rock solid tensioning so the chain doesn't drop. I run a couple cogs in the back, so eno hubs aren't the solution.
Is that 75$ tensioner the bomb, or can I alter the spring in my crappy 20$ tensioner?

As terrible as a ped strike is..... I'll wager they've started looking before stepping out now. Most only ever get hit once, you'd hope.

I'm not sure how solid the tensioning woujld be but to run different cog the singulator is good, allows movement side to side so more than one cog can be used and allows a straight chainline.
http://www.surlybikes.com/parts/popup_images/parts_prodSingleator.jpg

I think that's the one I have but it drops chain carvin' over tracks, I can't imagine running roughy in the muck and bumps with it, it would drive me mad it would. I think it needs a spring from a Chevy.

second email sent to Star PPL

Perhaps:

Cyclist dies after being knocked into traffic by parked car opening door.

Cheers.

Nice! This is what I wrote about it... I sent it to the editor although there are things about what I wrote that I'm sure will cause it not to be taken seriously. I can live with that, though. :)

Linky (http://makergo.com/shutup/?p=276)

I think that's the one I have but it drops chain carvin' over tracks, I can't imagine running roughy in the muck and bumps with it, it would drive me mad it would. I think it needs a spring from a Chevy.

What about a chainring tensioner, like DH riders use?
Or go for the bling and run the Paul tensioner. Chain runs through like a rear der.
http://ucycle.com/images/312.jpg
Of course runs $120 at urbane.

hmm only 100$ more than my tensioner..and mine moves back and forth to do the chainline with multicogs... I wonder if it's a case of you get what you pay for? I wonder about the DH style off the chainring, a combo of both just might do it.

Just read an MTB forum post about using non-ramped chain rings being the secret...this unfortunately isn't possible just yet.

I do.... laddies... for the context of my email to this reporter... has ANYONE heard of a parking driver EVER opening their door and door prizing a car? Even on a really skinny street?

So true. We have about 100 cyclist door prizes per year in GTA and I'm adding my vote that motorist/motorist door prizes are rare to non-existent; never heard of it in my 20 years in this city (and I'm also a motorist at times).

I guess the door prize is a natural consequence of the cyclist being legallly entitled to take the lane as required for safety, but rarely acting on that entitlement. Motorists are always in the main lane, they rarely get so close to parked cars

Re the skinny streets: As you note, the motorist refuses the enter the door prize zone on their own side of the street. What that often does, in my observation, is shift that risk onto an oncoming cyclist on the opposite side of the street! because the motorist is basically running straight down the centreline of the street. The sense of entitlement never ceases to amaze me.

I think this is a great question for motorists to respond to. Thanks for your efforts re the Star.

I try to ride the line between the two lanes generally but, like you said, it's not always possible. I do find myself in the doorzone ALOT. I've practiced seeing folks in their cars, but I've spooked a couple times this year.

So in the vein of taking the lane for SAFETY sake ..... if the curb lane with parking is now changed to accidentally running into an open being door into traffic where you then get run over, I suppose taking the centre lane should conceivably alright. Just quote the story and completely aviod the curb lane when cars are there. This applies to all of Queen and King with the exception of rush hour when no parking is allowed. I wonder how that will fly in the core?

Re the skinny streets: As you note, the motorist refuses the enter the door prize zone on their own side of the street. What that often does, in my observation, is shift that risk onto an oncoming cyclist on the opposite side of the street! because the motorist is basically running straight down the centreline of the street. The sense of entitlement never ceases to amaze me.

I'd like to know why a lot of motorists can't seem to stick to their lanes, either - more often than I care to remember I've been buzzed by or witness cars that straddle the 1/3 curb lane by the parked cars and 2/3 of the left lane for no apparent reason - I've been forced to the curb in a pretty violent way when one cab tried to take that 'lane' on Danforth, too. I had to yell at a driver yesterday who was driving half/half, and at the time (rush hour eastbound traffic) there were a bunch of cyclists around me, which I was passing all in the curb lane - this idiot was trying to overtake, but didn't have anywhere near enough room so was tailgating the truck/trailer while half/half. My yell was a "respect your effing lane markings, a-hole" - not perhaps the most diplomatic thing to say I admit.

tell him it's Lane Straddling .. 150 bones and 2 demerit points.
Thing that drives me bonkers is the drivers' weird need to be three and a half feet from the streetcar... it's not gonna move buddy you can get closer you know. Or that the fact that if in the centre lane the drivers' side tire should be on or to the left of the track. They all seem to think if they get close the the lane divider they will lose the left side of their vehicles, despite the fact that the streetcar fits in the lane.

Cyclist dies after being knocked into traffic by parked car opening door.

fwiw #1: that's close to how I remember it being worded on CP24 this morning, so they don't *all* have their heads up their arses.

fwiw #2: I've nearly taken off a couple people's doors that were flung open into my path while driving. I'm not a curb hugger, either, I drive with my car's wheels to the LEFT of the tracks most of the time. :) Both instances it was giant SUVs poorly parked on narrow streets.

Tell the story like it is I says ;)

Just read an MTB forum post about using non-ramped chain rings being the secret...this unfortunately isn't possible just yet.


Others may argue, but I'm 110% on the non ramped chainring/cog setup for s/s. Never had a chain jump since going this route. With ramped had chain throw one more than once.

Then to the crank switch it is, rampless crank ring here I come. As well to find the 20-something cogs. Then I should be set to get dirty DSR style.

Then to the crank switch it is, rampless crank ring here I come. As well to find the 20-something cogs. Then I should be set to get dirty DSR style.

Misfit Psycles (http://www.psyclestore.com/product_info.php?cPath=29_33&products_id=68&osCsid=be79bb7607b564eb4cda668b63a317b0) is your friend. Or spend a bit more and get the fancy ones (http://www.psyclestore.com/product_info.php?cPath=29_33&products_id=171&osCsid=be79bb7607b564eb4cda668b63a317b0)

Damn you Chris... eno DOS freewheel...yumm 30 buk per single cog... not ******** all things considered.

Australia sounds scary to ride in.. there's a bunch of letters to Cycling News responding about the road rage incident there from a couple weeks ago: http://www.cyclingnews.com/letters.php?id=letters/2008/05-23letters

Also, re rings/cogs: on my Roger I'm running Blackspire non-ramped rings (one 42t DH ring, one 38t mono-veloce) up front, and a 20t WTB ss cog + an unknown-brand 16t ss cog (can't remember what.. from Cycle Therapy) out back. Of course, I also have track-style dropouts, so I can tension the chain properly. I've been happy with it all, however, and none of it was very pricey.

Damn you Chris... eno DOS freewheel...yumm 30 buk per single cog... not ******** all things considered.

I have the $4 cog from them, works fine for me. Yeah Dos freewheel is nice, match it up with the $225 crank and you're good to go.

I'm thinkin it'll go with my mismatched crank currently on the Pake when I swap that out for the DA/octi.
Then I can rampless ring it , as opposed to fighting with the XT stuff.

I'm trying to decide if I should get this frame.
http://bikeisland.com/images/26oc2.jpg
$120US. All I would need is a headset. Hmmmm.....decisions to make.

k, I think the guys @ Racer Sportif are f*****g with me. I went in to ask about building up a fixie, and they said your fixed crankset has to have a 144 BCD in order to work as a fixie/with a 1/8 chain... I did some searching on BF and it sounds like most people are running 130 BCD converted 'road' cranks. What's the deal here?

144 bcd is the track standard, so chainrings of that size usually come in 1/8 width. Many people (myself included) with conversions use their existing 130 bcd road double crank + chainring in 3/32.. there are lots of 3/32 cogs to select from, so the entire drivetrain can be 3/32.

144 bcd is the track standard, so chainrings of that size usually come in 1/8 width. Many people (myself included) with conversions use their existing 130 bcd road double crank + chainring in 3/32.. there are lots of 3/32 cogs to select from, so the entire drivetrain can be 3/32.

ok, so you can safely ride a FG on a 3/32 chain with a 130bcd? The guy I talked to said it had to be done with a 144bcd or something... maybe I was just getting confused.

ok, so you can safely ride a FG on a 3/32 chain with a 130bcd? The guy I talked to said it had to be done with a 144bcd or something... maybe I was just getting confused.

100% Safe.

Seriously, go somewhere else!

100% Safe.

Seriously, go somewhere else!

Agreed.

Cupcrazy4: all my fixed gear bikes are/were 130bcd 3/32 chain setup. Before the RPM crank I used an older shimano crank that had biopace rings on it. Pretty much any road crank will work for a fixed gear. With all the bike shop people on this T.O. thread I would go to one of their shops to get stuff you need. Cycle Therapy, Cycle Solutions on Parlament, Curbside, La Carrera, Urbane, amongst others. Never ever had a problem dealing with these places.

So dirty singletrack folk - anyone still up for riding Kelso on Sunday morning?